Recently, there has been an increased demand in the marketplace for multi-mode communication devices. In response, manufacturers have proposed giving traditional audio telephones video capability. Traditional audio telephones, such as portable radiotelephones, include a user interface carried on a single housing. The user interface comprises a speaker, a microphone, a display, and a data input device, such as a keypad. These telephones are typically used to initiate a call to another user via the keypad. Once the call is initiated, the user positions the telephone in close proximity to his or her ear and mouth so as to listen to the speaker and speak into the microphone, i.e., communicate audibly, with the other user. During use, the telephone is positioned such that the user is unable to view or utilize the display.
To accommodate the video capability, it has been proposed to replace the display of the traditional audio telephone with a larger display, such as a color liquid crystal display, and mount a camera, such as a charge coupled device (CCD) camera, on the single housing in proximity to the display. It has been further proposed to enhance the microphone and speaker of the traditional audio telephone with speakerphone capability. The resulting multi-mode communication device allows the user to hold the communication device away from his or her head and communicate with another user both audibly via the enhanced microphone and speaker and visually via the larger display and camera. Unfortunately, such a device must have a single surface that is at least large enough to carry the larger display, camera, and enhanced speaker and microphone. This results in a dimensionally larger device. Also, the speakerphone enhancement prevents the user from positioning the device in close proximity to his or her ear and mouth to, for example, communicate in privacy or in the presence of loud ambient noise.
Other proposed multi-mode communication devices combine a portable radiotelephone with a personal digital assistant. In a first mode of operation, the device operates as a conventional radiotelephone. In a second mode of operation, a personal digital assistant mode, the device permits the user to, for example, write and store notes, view previously stored notes, fax a note, send a note via electronic mail, and/or access the Internet. In an overlapping mode, while viewing a stored note in the personal digital assistant mode, a user can place a radiotelephone call and view the note during the call. However, this device employs at least two displays and two keypads--one display and keypad for use primarily in the radiotelephone mode and the other display and keypad for use primarily in the personal digital assistant mode. Such redundancy adds sufficient size and cost to the device.
Therefore, what is needed is a multi-mode communication device that permits a user to communicate in privacy and employs a single user interface having components carried on multiple surfaces of the device so as to minimize the size and cost of the device.